Defy Gravity | The Sequel | Eren x OC

*Chapter 22: Orpheus and Eurydice

I'm sure I'd recognize you if I lost my memory

There's no voice on earth that speaks so sweet

'Again' by Empress Of

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The skies over the city of Shiganshina glow a vibrant hue of blue and a flock of birds chirp happily as they fly through the city where the grass grows greener, the trees grow high, and their leaves grow lush. Everyone in the city and indeed the island is in a happy vibrant mood as they make ready for tomorrow's celebrations. Celebrations to mark yet another anniversary of the Day of Doom when a forsaken Eldian goddess rained terror down on millions of people before turning the ground and crops lush and abundant beneath their feet.

Now every year since that catastrophe, the volcanic Stohessian Mountain spews volcanic ash into the air, but with far less danger to the island's occupants. Now its eruptions only shroud the sky in gray rather than black and last only hours rather than days. And with every eruption comes a fresh dusting of super fertile ash to the island and surrounding continents, making the land extra bountiful for the rest of the summer and autumn.

Today birds in the sky fly happily, calling out for each other on this mid-July day as they fly over Shiganshina University's new Cultural Arts Building. Inside, there's a packed amphitheatre full of eager students waiting for their professor.

She comes in, frantically excited as she carries her laptop and a pile of books and scrolls. She's a younger professor in her mid-thirties. She's got wide light brown eyes, glittering with enthusiasm behind her glasses. Her medium-length dark brown hair is done up in a messy ponytail and she wears a plaid button up with ripped jean shorts as she walks in, always one for the androgynous look.

"Good afternoon class!" she calls out in a sing-song voice to be heard above her chatting students. "I hope you are all enjoying this gorgeous Dooms Day Eve! I know you all want to get out of here quick to enjoy the long weekend's street festivals in honor of Founder Eurydice so I will make this lecture short! Today in honor of our goddess, we will be discussing the mythology of Eurydice!"

The class all settles and throws open notebooks and laptops, and one student's hand shoots up frantically. "Uhh Professor Zoe! Will today's lecture be covered in Monday's exam?"

"Mmm no," Hange Zoe smiles and shakes her head. "This will be a part of next month's final exam on Eldian history and culture so fret not!"

She quickly sets up her laptop to plug it into the theatre's projector and opens up her PowerPoint for the lecture. She clears her throat and grabs her water bottle as the door leading into the lecture hall opens and a student with sunglasses, a leather jacket, and long dark hair walks in. He searches the place for a seat and walks a few steps up to stand at a seat taken up by a backpack. He raises his eyebrow behind his sunglasses and the owner of the backpack frantically grabs it to move it out of the way.

"Thanks," he mutters as he sits down and crosses his long legs, bouncing them impatiently as he pulls a toothpick out of his pocket to pop between his teeth. He doesn't bother to grab any pencils or notebooks out of his backpack, he's just stopping by this lecture. He watches as a renaissance painting is pulled up on the projector screen and absentmindedly pulls his hair back into a manbun out of habit.

"Alright class," Hange pronounces loudly, "to start, I will show you a painting that's very famous. I'm sure many of you recognize it as The Birth of Venus. It was painted in the 16th century by Sandro Botticelli, an Italian Renaissance painter and up until a few years ago, many believed it to depict the birth of... well Venus. But now many Eldian scholars have come forth to argue that it is actually the birth of the Eldian goddess Eurydice who is said to have travelled through Greece to visit an Oracle in her never-ending search for her children lost in the ancient catastrophe known as the Rumbling..."